Introduction and summary
“The teachers are already bogged down as it is … My son is incredibly smart, but he needs one-on-one attention. And if there are forty kids in the class, is he ever going to get that? If he’s having an anxious day, would anyone notice?” – Julia Callahan of Georgia on the possible perils of her 4-year-old’s preschool program “deregulating” by adopting looser standards that would allow more kids per teacher, larger class sizes, and teachers who are less prepared.
Across the country, states are looking for ways to boost the child care supply and bring down costs for families. Some have turned to “deregulation” to do so. But many of these efforts will do the opposite of what they are intended to do, leading to more stress for teachers, fewer programs that meet families’ needs, and more risks for kids, up to and including injury and death.
Child care programs play a critical role in ensuring children are safe, cared for, and supported with opportunities for early learning and healthy development. As nearly 70 percent of young children have all available parents in the workforce, millions of parents across the country rely on child care to go to work, school, or job training. Without a reliable care provider, parents see interruptions to their work, and the broader economy sees disruptions to its productivity, stability, and growth.
Yet across the nation, families grapple with high costs and scarce supply of child care options. At their root, these child care affordability and accessibility issues are driven by a lack of adequate public funding. Working with children in their early years of life is by definition resource-intensive, requiring skilled educators and small ratios to ensure children are safe and supported. Without sufficient public funding, parents—and early educators, who subsidize the system through their own poverty-level wages—are forced to bear these high costs. In 39 states and the District of Columbia, the average annual price of infant care exceeds the cost of in-state college tuition. And around 43 percent of early educators rely on public safety net programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to make ends meet for their own families.